HC sends minor girl to protection home, permits boyfriend to see her

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court had to separate a couple because they were not of marriageable age. However, the court sent the minor girl to Woman’s Protection Home and permitted her lover to see her till the girl attains majority. The court permitted them to meet each other because the girl threatened to commit suicide at a proposal of separation.
A 17-year old girl from the city eloped with her 20-year old neighbour, Kanu Prajapati, who is a labourer. The girl’s parents were against this union and tried hard to bring the daughter back, but when all efforts failed, they moved the HC last month by filing a habeas corpus petition saying that Prajapati had illegally detained her. On the HC’s instructions, cops traced the couple and brought them before the court. A division bench had a word with the girl and came to know that the boy, who was facing jail on charges of kidnapping, had actually accompanied her on her insistence only.
The court then tried to explain the girl that since she was a minor, it was advisable that she should stay with her natural guardian – her father. This advice incensed her and she threatened to commit suicide, if separated from her boyfriend with whom she had married in a temple though the marriage was not registered.
When the court was convinced that the girl was reluctant to go with her father, they ordered to send the girl to a city-based protection house till she turns 18. The court also said that by then, the boy would also become of marriageable age.
The court said, “In our view also admitting the corpus to Nari Saurakshan Gruh is the only viable option both legally and socially. This will provide her some solitude and sometime to think about her action in retrospect. This will free her from the influence of affection or prejudices.” The court, however, thought it fit to make a provision by which the boy can meet the girl, whenever she feels so.